Strawberry Syrup
by Shiny the Strange
Summary: Riko goes out for ice cream and ends up wanting the strange girl behind the counter more.


**This was written as a giftfic for Uncle_Riko at Ao3. As always, you can find this crossposted to my Ao3 at Shiny_the_Strange. Please enjoy!**

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Stunning. Gorgeous. Cute. _Weird_.

Those were the words running through Riko's mind as she examined the girl standing behind the counter. Despite the rainbow of ice cream tubs lining both sides of the counter, save for a spot in the middle with a cash register, Riko had practically lost her appetite—for the dessert, anyway. There was something about the girl's glittering magenta eyes, flowing navy blue hair, and – above all – cheeky _smile_ that fascinated her. The girl appeared to be around Riko's age, perhaps a little younger. Her name tag read 'Yohane', though 'Tsushima Yoshiko' was partially scratched out below. Combined with her little red bowtie, white apron, and pastel blue uniform, Riko found herself completely entranced.

"Hey, are you gonna order?"

Blinking, Riko's attention returned to the matter at hand. Yoshiko had asked her what ice cream she wanted a minute or two earlier, though the question had gone straight through her. That was the only straight part about the situation, really. Riko had prevented herself from saying the first clear thing on her mind; there was absolutely no way a stranger like Yoshiko would respond well to something like "I want to order _you_ " or "something we can share". No, none of that was acceptable to say to a random public service worker, no matter how attractive they were. Shoving all thoughts of unrealistic scenarios to the back of her mind, Riko finally gave an answer: "Y-Yes. Sorry about that. I'll take two scoops of vanilla with some strawberry syrup in a bowl, please."

Yoshiko's eyes suddenly narrowed. She smirked, then began to laugh—no, _cackle_ , as she grabbed the scoop from the vanilla tub and a bowl.

 _Okay then…_ Yeah, Yoshiko was _definitely_ weird. Riko reached a hand out. "Um, are you all right?"

"Heh…a mortal such as you, who enjoys the blood of strawberries…" said Yoshiko, cackling once again. "Yohane can't wait for you to join her in the deepest pits of hell."

Pulling her hand back, Riko raised an eyebrow. Was that supposed to be flattering? This was quickly getting _really_ weird, and she wasn't entirely sure if it was in a good way or not. "Excuse me?"

"You should know, it is a privilege for the great Yohane to look forward to your presence. Many little demons would love to be in your place." Yoshiko put her arm on the glass part of the counter and leaned over it. She winked and stuck her tongue out. "Won't you fall with me?"

Riko felt her heart thump, momentarily forgetting the oddness of the situation. Yoshiko's display was almost…seductive? As seductive as she could be while holding a bowl and a scoop, anyway. Surely she wasn't actually trying to be seductive though, right? This was a dream. It had to be. In what waking world would a girl as weird as she was beautiful want to flirt with Riko? Yet, Yoshiko's face looked so real and concrete. And goodness, the closer it was, the prettier it looked. Smooth skin, perfect nose, and soft looking mouth. Riko wondered what it'd be like to have a taste of those tantalizing lips…

She shook her head. What was happening to her? Dream or no dream, weird or not weird, she needed to stop thinking about kissing a stranger like this.

A brown-haired girl, wearing a uniform just like Yoshiko's, rushed out from a side room. She put her hand on Yoshiko's back and sighed. "Yoshiko-chan, you're doing it again."

Glancing at her coworker, then back at Riko, Yoshiko's cheeks became flushed. She leaned back behind the counter and stared at the floor. "Oh…I'm sorry. I hope you're not too freaked out."

Riko waved her hand. "N-No, you didn't freak me out, but it _was_ rather strange…"

"Ah…" Yoshiko's downcast expression made Riko's heart sink.

The brown haired girl turned to Riko. "What did you ask for again?"

Riko repeated her order from earlier.

Nodding, the brown haired girl patted Yoshiko on the shoulder. "You should probably go on break. I'll get her order, zura."

"Y-Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. But first I'm going to get some ice cream for me." Handing the bowl and vanilla scoop to her coworker, Yoshiko punched the price into the cash register and pulled some cash out from beneath her apron. Once she finished paying, she grabbed a huge bowl and scooped a comparatively small amount of chocolate ice cream into it. She went to the syrup dispensers and pumped so much strawberry syrup into her bowl that the ice cream was barely visible. It was probably for the best that she hadn't handled Riko's order.

By the time Yoshiko made her way out from behind the counter and into a seat at the back of the parlour, the brown haired girl had completed Riko's order. She pushed the bowl towards her. "Sorry about Yoshiko-chan, zura. She's always leaning over the counter and staring at customers like that. If she said something about the blood of strawberries and then wanting to see you in hell, that was her way of saying she loves strawberry syrup and thinks you're cool for liking it too."

"Hm. She certainly has an…interesting…way of expressing herself," said Riko, pulling out her debit card. She found herself somewhat miffed, hearing that Yoshiko gave the seductive look from earlier out to pretty much anyone. Thinking she was cool, though…?

The brown haired girl shrugged. "You get used to it. She's been obsessed with fallen angels since she was a kid. It still comes out every so often in her Yohane persona. She talks an awful lot about blood and fire, but she's completely harmless. I promise she's not as scary as she might seem, zura."

"Oh, no, she didn't scare me. Like I told her, it was just…weird."

"Yep, that's Yoshiko-chan for you," said the girl. She looked at the card in Riko's hand. "By the way, there's no need for that, zura. Yoshiko-chan paid for you as well when she bought her own ice cream."

Riko's heart stopped. "W-What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Paying for a customer's order is something she's only ever done once or twice. She must really like you for her to do that, zura."

 _Could that really be why?_ Riko's cheeks began to heat up. "Are you sure she didn't just do it because she felt bad or something?"

The girl rubbed her chin. "It's possible, but I don't think so. Why don't you go talk to her, zura?"

Riko slowly turned to face where Yoshiko sat. She appeared to be stirring her dessert, taking bites periodically. "Maybe later." She turned back to the brown haired girl and bowed her head. "Thank you for the ice cream."

"Have a nice day, zura!"

Picking up her bowl, Riko chose a seat near the back. Yoshiko was visible from where she sat, still stirring away. As Riko grabbed a spoon and began to eat her own ice cream, she wondered how different 'Yohane' was from 'Yoshiko'. She imagined Yoshiko cornering her in the back of the parlour, performing a kabedon and smirking the same way she had earlier. With her other hand, she lifted Riko's chin. Their faces were only inches apart. Slowly Yoshiko leaned in, pressing their lips together. It only became more passionate from there as Riko felt Yoshiko's tongue slide across her own—

Dropping her spoon, Riko shuddered. Thankfully, the noise didn't seem to alert Yoshiko that she was being stared at.

This was bad for Riko's heart. Was Yoshiko being sincere with her flirtations earlier? Could someone as attractive as her honestly believe Riko was someone worth paying attention to, simply because they enjoyed the same topping? As if. Then again, if she were bizarre enough to speak the way she had, not to mention lean over a counter like she had done, then maybe, just maybe, she was bizarre enough to possibly feel that way…

Yeah, right. Yoshiko and her coworker were just being nice, that was it. There was no way someone so colourful and exciting like Yoshiko would be interested in someone as plain and boring as Riko. Still, Riko couldn't keep her eyes off of her. And it wasn't because Yoshiko started sipping the ridiculous amount of syrup in her bowl like soup.

Eventually Riko picked up her spoon and went back to her ice cream. In the end, it wasn't polite to stare.

After a few more minutes of eating, footsteps sounded next to her. Great, Yoshiko had probably caught her staring earlier. She was coming over to reprimand her, to tell her how much she didn't appreciate it. Riko swallowed; what was she going to say? There wasn't any time to figure it out.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. Finally Riko dared herself to look at whoever stood next to her.

"Here, you left this on the counter!" The brown haired girl grinned as held out Riko's debit card.

 _Oh._ Taking the card and putting it away, Riko tried her best to look like she wasn't disappointed. "Huh, I didn't even realize I'd left it there. Thanks."

"No problem, zura!"

Watching as the girl went back to her station, Riko mentally kicked herself. She could've easily lost her source of money, and she was more concerned with how it wasn't Yoshiko that had approached her? Where on earth did the reasonable Riko go? That was it, whether she liked it or not she was going to finish her ice cream and get the hell out of here before her emotion got the best of her.

"Hey, uh…"

Riko snapped her head in to the direction of the voice; she sucked a breath back.

Yoshiko stood next to her, face nearly as red as the syrup she had sipped minutes ago.

Neither spoke. Not that Riko knew what to say, anyway. It didn't matter, though; Yoshiko was here, and she was _staring right at her_. Once again Riko felt herself feeling entranced, captivated. In this moment, nothing could move her, not even a massive sale at the doujin shop. Maybe she could stick around a bit longer after all.

"Um…" started Yoshiko, moving her gaze to her feet. "I just wanted to say, Yohane thinks you marched straight out of a hellfire."

Marched straight out of a hellfire? What, did Yoshiko think she was _ugly_? Was that how she actually felt? Riko's eyes began to cloud. "W-Why would you say that?"

A pause. Yoshiko's eyes widened. "N-No, wait! I promise Yohane didn't mean it in a bad way!"

Riko was about to shoot a retort, but stopped herself. She blinked her half-formed tears back. If Yoshiko were the kind of person to talk about things in a roundabout way, as she had done earlier while expressing her love for strawberry syrup, perhaps she didn't mean what she said literally? Goodness, this was confusing. "Then what could you have possibly meant by it?"

"I-I meant… to say that you're hot— no, I mean, beautiful." Yoshiko's cheeks became redder by the second.

Hot? Beautiful? Riko's heart began to pound her chest. No way. She couldn't have meant that. But what if Yoshiko was being honest? It would be impolite to tell her otherwise. "Do you really think so?"

Flashing a tiny grin, Yoshiko nodded. "Your hair is a lovely cascading waterfall of blood, and your face is that of a true angel. Yohane hasn't met a mortal as tempting as you since she first fell from heaven." Her eyes expressed shock once again. "Wait, pretend I didn't say that first bit! Oh— I still think your hair is pretty, though!"

Right now, Riko's face felt like it was going to melt off. At this point it was obvious that Yoshiko really was trying to flirt, and it was oddly…cute? The amount of effort she was putting into it was apparent. Still, it was hard to believe this was happening. Perhaps Yoshiko only wanted tell Riko she was beautiful, and that would be that. "But…why? You don't even know who I am!"

At that, Yoshiko rubbed the side of her neck. "Yeah, well, maybe— maybe I want to get to know you better. I bet your face and hair aren't the only beautiful things about you."

Riko pinched the back of her hand; she wasn't waking up. Yoshiko seemed genuinely interested in her. Completely adorable, completely beautiful, completely strange Yoshiko. Part of Riko wondered if this was all a big joke. But with everything that had happened up until now, why was there any reason to doubt that Yoshiko was being anything but sincere? Her entire body burned with anticipation. "If you honestly think that, then I might want to get to know you better too."

A big, silly grin grew on Yoshiko's face. "Really?"

Giggling, Riko began to play with her hair. Yoshiko seemed like she was absolutely adorable when excited. "Yes, really. I'm Riko, by the way."

"Riko…a name perfectly befitting of an angel like you. It reminds me of lilies." Rubbing her arm, Yoshiko glanced over at some place behind Riko. Her smile fell.

Riko frowned. "Hmm? Is something wrong?"

"I'm fine. It's just that my break is almost over," said Yoshiko. She smiled meekly. "Say, um, my shift ends in a couple hours. Do you want to do something together afterwards?"

A date? Oh, _yes_. "I'd love to. Do you have anything in mind?"

Yoshiko scratched her cheek. "How about a blood sacrifice or some other kind of ritual?"

Well, it looked like she wouldn't quit acting strange anytime soon. "H-How about something more conventional, like dinner or a walk downtown? Maybe we could even decide later?"

"Okay, that works too."

A jingling sound filled the air. Glancing over at the parlour's entrance, Riko saw a woman and a group of small children enter.

"Yoshiko-chan! Can you help me out, zura?" called the brown haired girl.

"Give me a second!" Meeting Riko's eyes, Yoshiko asked, "Are you going to stay here?"

"Actually, I need to do a couple errands," said Riko. "I'll come back when you get off, though. I promise."

Yoshiko grabbed a pen and piece of paper from under her apron (just how much stuff did she keep under there?) and wrote something on it. She held the paper out to Riko. "Since you are unable to bind yourself to this store, I want you to be able to call Yohane from the depths of hell whenever you need to."

Taking the paper, Riko read a crossed out '666', followed by a phone number. She grinned. "I'll be sure to do so."

"Until we meet again, little demon." And with that, Yoshiko went back to the ice cream counter.

Holding the piece of paper to her chest, Riko sighed. A date with Yoshiko…it was bound to be interesting, that was for sure. She tried not to get too ahead of herself, but she couldn't help but imagine what the future held. Between the two of them, Yoshiko had enough charm to make up for Riko's lack of it. If they went further than a single date – and hopefully they would –, they'd surely be the kind of couple that balanced each other out.

She wanted the pleasure she could get only from dating a fallen angel.


End file.
